A little about how I write, because it’s unusual and I don’t recommend it to anyone. But somehow, against all odds, it works for me. I have a general outline of how the novel is going to work, but it’s — well, to call it loose would be an understatement.
It's so great that you can articulate the process of actually writing a novel! The thing that you do where you rewrite everything that came before I do at the very end where I rewrite the entire novel now that I know the story. It has to gel, it has to synthesize and I hold it all in my brain and then I go click click click and fix everything all at once at the end, over and over and over again until done.
“Because writing is like breathing and it will happen if we let it and stay out of the way and don’t resist too much.” Can I get that carved on my gravestone please?
Truly though, I think this insight into your process makes the finished product 100,00x more magical. To date, I’ve only managed to actually finish ONE of my lengthier writing projects (and didn’t go through with the first round of editing because at that point I was SO bored of it). But I’ve figured out that things really go wrong for me if I start to outline too heavily, because I lose interest so much quicker if I know what’s going to happen! The way I see it, the story already exists out there, and I’m just some kind of seer/scribe/whatever that is blessed with visions from a different world. Of course, I don’t actually believe that — it’s just the only way to describe the feeling of exploring a new world and it’s characters. But honesty, how else do you explain the moment when everything falls into place perfectly? I know damn well I’m not smart enough to orchestrate that…
It's absolutely magic and not something the conscious brain can get around. That's why you just show up every day and don't try to control it too much. I mean... if I tried to control it, this book wouldn't exist. It's not the one I was planning to write!
This entry inspired me a lot! My inspirations usually appear as scenes, lines, or simply brief moments of emotion that randomly pop up in my head and I just sort of expand my story around that one specific scene, so I’ve always found it stressful to create a complete story. But while reading this, I realized that maybe not having an outline is not such a bad thing after all: you‘d find yourself discovering things you’ve never even thought about before actually doing the writing.
And I absolutely LOVED this: “...a reminder that there is magic in life, things we can’t understand, if we’re humble enough to trust and surrender” I remember there being a similar quote about love requiring surrender and faith in SGE and I loved that as well. This is truly a touching idea that I will bear in mind.
As for house, kill, nuke... I’m guessing maybe blood feuds between powerful families and an ultimate fight and destruction in the end (?
Actually my way of writing is almost as chaotic as yours 😂 I don't even consider myself as the writer at that point, I only am the receptacle of the characters' story and I write it down. I know approximatevely where its going but I let my characters go to the next event the way they want. I always end up with much longer chapter than I planned, but where would the fun be if everything was going the way I want it to ? I love discovering the story as I write it, took me long to understand but when I finally did and stopped trying to stick to an outline, writing became so much more fun
I literally screamed when I saw your video on Youtube announcing this project. School for Good and Evil is one of the few book series that I re-read over every few years, and upon each re-read I find myself feeling excitement, happiness, sadness and a surprising level of anger over the plot and characters. I sincerely thank you for doing this project and posting your work progress, it's comforting to get an insight into your thinking and creative process. I've been writing on and off since the beginning of middle school and I find that writing can often be a very lonely and tedious experience. I have started and given up on multiple stories in the past couple years. In the beginning of my writing process I would open up a doc without any planning and start writing, thinking that I would be able to write the grand 500+ page novel in my mind in a year. Obviously, that hasn't happened yet (if only) but I'm happy to say that I've improved. In 2021, I bought a notebook which I use to physically write down my ideas and organize characters, storylines ect and it's been helpful so far, as I've improved from suddenly getting an idea for a grand fantasy trilogy, writing 3 pages, getting stuck, abandoning the doc and then starting over. Currently, I have an idea that has been in development for the past year and my process is a messy mix between writing my ideas down physically in my notebook, sketching storyboards of characters and scenes, and writing the scenes in my scrap doc I have a doc called "scraps" where I write whatever comes to mind, and I've been trying to push myself to routinely add to the doc, explore all ideas no matter how small or seemingly stupid. I'm rambling but what I mean to say is thank you thank you thank you for being so open and encouraging as much reader interaction as you have. I think that it's much easier to stay motivated when you're surrounded by a community of people who are plagued with the same issues that inevitably come with being a writer. I'm so excited for your new book and I hope to meet you one day at a book signing or something. Are you planning to come to Toronto to promote your new book (please say yes) Also how do you feel about people posting novels and stories online? Do you think that it's helpful, I've been thinking of doing that in the future when I (hopefully) finish my story. I'm worried that I'll try to please readers instead of actually pursuing the original story I have in mind. While on the other hand, commenters can basically act as editors and actually improve on stories/give new ideas. Honestly, my final goal is getting my story published one day, do you think posting chapters online aid in this goal?
So many good questions that I'll be talking about in future entries... I'm sure I'll do a Canadian tour eventually for this book! I think posting chapters online is a great way to get feedback, but it's hard to get the full sense of your book until you've completed a total draft in my opinion.
I am discovering your newsletter late (but just in time?) as I find myself struggling.
1. With continuing my streak of writing a 100 word story every single day, that includes a 100 word poem for 30 days in April.
2. Writing a serial weekly (I’ve missed a few weeks) after deciding to change to multiple POVs 1/3 of the way through!
Anyway, I digress. I also can’t write without two versions of an outline, character names, and a title (whether it’s book or chapter titles). Without those key ingredients I can’t move. The inspiration and idea isn’t ready for me. My brain associates good with answers to those questions. They cannot be forced. They must come as naturally as breathing.
I don’t think quirks like that make us strange. But consistent! And that is a superpower I will gladly take to the bank!
Also, I look forward to playing catch-up on your many amazing posts in the meantime…
I thought I was the only one who did the whole write a new chapter then go back and polish everything that came before song and dance, and this makes me feel less insane ✨
I love hearing about your process. When I was younger, I was 1000% a pantser (to use NaNoWriMo's terminology). I would get a line or an image and just let the magic take me. That brought me some of my best writing, but I never managed to actually finish a book.
In grad school, I took a class on how stories work, and for the first time, I tried building a full story outline. And voila, two books. It was insane. But I don't know that either of those books has quite as much magic as what I used to write when I had no idea where I was going.
I love the idea of writing a chapter and then back-editing the whole piece up to that point. Because I can kind of either write chapters or write a book, with some difficulty connecting the two. I might just have to try your strategy on my next novel. Thank you for sharing.
When I write a play I come up with a very simple idea, one that makes me interested, leaved me wanting more. Then I just ask what do I need to figure out to start writing this story and I write those down. Then I start thinking about those unknowns that I need to discover; Sometimes I start with characters, sometimes I start with a general plot idea, and sometimes I start with the location. Once I know the basics of each thing, I expand. I ask myself how each thing is going to stand out in the story, if it doesn't stand out, I don't need it. Eventually I get to the point of planning out the scenes of the play. By the end I have a lot of messy, handwritten, bullet-point notes that I can open my script writing software, create a new document and start writing. Do I stick to my messy notes while I write the play? NO! But it gives me a baseline to work with and a plan that makes me excited to keep writing. Then I can see how the characters grow and change, how the location morphs to fit the stage, how the plot changes based on a line I come up with in the moment. Even though I plan for my plays, I also discover them as I write.
Wow! It's so interesting- This was not how I expected you would write! I had actually have a deep analysis of the School for Good and Evil, because I really wanted to see how you construct your character, plot, subplot, and world-building arcs. I thought you'd be really into planning details and foreshadowing, but I was way wrong! This makes me want to try your method into one of my stories, too. Maybe I can get something new out of it.
For me, though, I like to come up with a basic plot line, a character profile that is always changing, and a description of the world. I think I can do without them, though. I'm still figuring this out, but I aspire to be someone exactly like you.
For your current working novel, I think it is set in a disruptive period and some fantasy element is controlling it. I think it might be like the Nazi period, with some anarchism and marxism. Maybe a mix of supernatural powers, and creatures like griffins and phoenixes.
Hey Soman! I found it super interesting and eye opening to read about how you write your books. When I read your books I always wondered what your process was, and while it may not be how most authors write their books, I think that makes it so much more unique and exciting! Like you said, not even you know what's going to happen until it actually happens. I just find that so interesting and love that that's your method. I'm really looking forward to reading each and every single one of these diary entries and yes... it totally sounds like you're writing a sequel or even a prequel to Oppenheimer! 😂
I also love seeing the twists and turns come naturally out of my writing, it is so magical! And I don't really have a system other than...try not to give up haha. Also I can definitely see all the work put into SGE now that I know your process. It is so amazing to learn about the behind-the-scenes!
It's so great that you can articulate the process of actually writing a novel! The thing that you do where you rewrite everything that came before I do at the very end where I rewrite the entire novel now that I know the story. It has to gel, it has to synthesize and I hold it all in my brain and then I go click click click and fix everything all at once at the end, over and over and over again until done.
Mel! I’m so happy to have you here. And everyone should check out Mel’s wonderful Substack.
kisses!!! I'm so excited for your new book!!!
“Because writing is like breathing and it will happen if we let it and stay out of the way and don’t resist too much.” Can I get that carved on my gravestone please?
Truly though, I think this insight into your process makes the finished product 100,00x more magical. To date, I’ve only managed to actually finish ONE of my lengthier writing projects (and didn’t go through with the first round of editing because at that point I was SO bored of it). But I’ve figured out that things really go wrong for me if I start to outline too heavily, because I lose interest so much quicker if I know what’s going to happen! The way I see it, the story already exists out there, and I’m just some kind of seer/scribe/whatever that is blessed with visions from a different world. Of course, I don’t actually believe that — it’s just the only way to describe the feeling of exploring a new world and it’s characters. But honesty, how else do you explain the moment when everything falls into place perfectly? I know damn well I’m not smart enough to orchestrate that…
It's absolutely magic and not something the conscious brain can get around. That's why you just show up every day and don't try to control it too much. I mean... if I tried to control it, this book wouldn't exist. It's not the one I was planning to write!
This entry inspired me a lot! My inspirations usually appear as scenes, lines, or simply brief moments of emotion that randomly pop up in my head and I just sort of expand my story around that one specific scene, so I’ve always found it stressful to create a complete story. But while reading this, I realized that maybe not having an outline is not such a bad thing after all: you‘d find yourself discovering things you’ve never even thought about before actually doing the writing.
And I absolutely LOVED this: “...a reminder that there is magic in life, things we can’t understand, if we’re humble enough to trust and surrender” I remember there being a similar quote about love requiring surrender and faith in SGE and I loved that as well. This is truly a touching idea that I will bear in mind.
As for house, kill, nuke... I’m guessing maybe blood feuds between powerful families and an ultimate fight and destruction in the end (?
Anyway, thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Actually my way of writing is almost as chaotic as yours 😂 I don't even consider myself as the writer at that point, I only am the receptacle of the characters' story and I write it down. I know approximatevely where its going but I let my characters go to the next event the way they want. I always end up with much longer chapter than I planned, but where would the fun be if everything was going the way I want it to ? I love discovering the story as I write it, took me long to understand but when I finally did and stopped trying to stick to an outline, writing became so much more fun
There you go. Sometimes you just need to unleash to find the story.
I literally screamed when I saw your video on Youtube announcing this project. School for Good and Evil is one of the few book series that I re-read over every few years, and upon each re-read I find myself feeling excitement, happiness, sadness and a surprising level of anger over the plot and characters. I sincerely thank you for doing this project and posting your work progress, it's comforting to get an insight into your thinking and creative process. I've been writing on and off since the beginning of middle school and I find that writing can often be a very lonely and tedious experience. I have started and given up on multiple stories in the past couple years. In the beginning of my writing process I would open up a doc without any planning and start writing, thinking that I would be able to write the grand 500+ page novel in my mind in a year. Obviously, that hasn't happened yet (if only) but I'm happy to say that I've improved. In 2021, I bought a notebook which I use to physically write down my ideas and organize characters, storylines ect and it's been helpful so far, as I've improved from suddenly getting an idea for a grand fantasy trilogy, writing 3 pages, getting stuck, abandoning the doc and then starting over. Currently, I have an idea that has been in development for the past year and my process is a messy mix between writing my ideas down physically in my notebook, sketching storyboards of characters and scenes, and writing the scenes in my scrap doc I have a doc called "scraps" where I write whatever comes to mind, and I've been trying to push myself to routinely add to the doc, explore all ideas no matter how small or seemingly stupid. I'm rambling but what I mean to say is thank you thank you thank you for being so open and encouraging as much reader interaction as you have. I think that it's much easier to stay motivated when you're surrounded by a community of people who are plagued with the same issues that inevitably come with being a writer. I'm so excited for your new book and I hope to meet you one day at a book signing or something. Are you planning to come to Toronto to promote your new book (please say yes) Also how do you feel about people posting novels and stories online? Do you think that it's helpful, I've been thinking of doing that in the future when I (hopefully) finish my story. I'm worried that I'll try to please readers instead of actually pursuing the original story I have in mind. While on the other hand, commenters can basically act as editors and actually improve on stories/give new ideas. Honestly, my final goal is getting my story published one day, do you think posting chapters online aid in this goal?
So many good questions that I'll be talking about in future entries... I'm sure I'll do a Canadian tour eventually for this book! I think posting chapters online is a great way to get feedback, but it's hard to get the full sense of your book until you've completed a total draft in my opinion.
Yaaaaaaay Soman's here!!!! So glad to have another YA/Kidlit writer here on Substack. So so excited for this, and welcome!
Ahhhh, I'm honored to be a part of this fun little world and share things. Thank you for the welcome and I can't wait to check yours out!
I am discovering your newsletter late (but just in time?) as I find myself struggling.
1. With continuing my streak of writing a 100 word story every single day, that includes a 100 word poem for 30 days in April.
2. Writing a serial weekly (I’ve missed a few weeks) after deciding to change to multiple POVs 1/3 of the way through!
Anyway, I digress. I also can’t write without two versions of an outline, character names, and a title (whether it’s book or chapter titles). Without those key ingredients I can’t move. The inspiration and idea isn’t ready for me. My brain associates good with answers to those questions. They cannot be forced. They must come as naturally as breathing.
I don’t think quirks like that make us strange. But consistent! And that is a superpower I will gladly take to the bank!
Also, I look forward to playing catch-up on your many amazing posts in the meantime…
This is crazy, but I love it.
I thought I was the only one who did the whole write a new chapter then go back and polish everything that came before song and dance, and this makes me feel less insane ✨
I love hearing about your process. When I was younger, I was 1000% a pantser (to use NaNoWriMo's terminology). I would get a line or an image and just let the magic take me. That brought me some of my best writing, but I never managed to actually finish a book.
In grad school, I took a class on how stories work, and for the first time, I tried building a full story outline. And voila, two books. It was insane. But I don't know that either of those books has quite as much magic as what I used to write when I had no idea where I was going.
I love the idea of writing a chapter and then back-editing the whole piece up to that point. Because I can kind of either write chapters or write a book, with some difficulty connecting the two. I might just have to try your strategy on my next novel. Thank you for sharing.
When I write a play I come up with a very simple idea, one that makes me interested, leaved me wanting more. Then I just ask what do I need to figure out to start writing this story and I write those down. Then I start thinking about those unknowns that I need to discover; Sometimes I start with characters, sometimes I start with a general plot idea, and sometimes I start with the location. Once I know the basics of each thing, I expand. I ask myself how each thing is going to stand out in the story, if it doesn't stand out, I don't need it. Eventually I get to the point of planning out the scenes of the play. By the end I have a lot of messy, handwritten, bullet-point notes that I can open my script writing software, create a new document and start writing. Do I stick to my messy notes while I write the play? NO! But it gives me a baseline to work with and a plan that makes me excited to keep writing. Then I can see how the characters grow and change, how the location morphs to fit the stage, how the plot changes based on a line I come up with in the moment. Even though I plan for my plays, I also discover them as I write.
I do the same thing. It drives me nuts. Why? But it’s the only way I’ve found to crack the code. Glad to hear I’m not the only insane person.
Well what I do is I generally get a plot from a random scene or idea
Write that scene and whatever other scenes that pop up
And then fill in the gaps
And basically polish polish polish
Wow! It's so interesting- This was not how I expected you would write! I had actually have a deep analysis of the School for Good and Evil, because I really wanted to see how you construct your character, plot, subplot, and world-building arcs. I thought you'd be really into planning details and foreshadowing, but I was way wrong! This makes me want to try your method into one of my stories, too. Maybe I can get something new out of it.
For me, though, I like to come up with a basic plot line, a character profile that is always changing, and a description of the world. I think I can do without them, though. I'm still figuring this out, but I aspire to be someone exactly like you.
For your current working novel, I think it is set in a disruptive period and some fantasy element is controlling it. I think it might be like the Nazi period, with some anarchism and marxism. Maybe a mix of supernatural powers, and creatures like griffins and phoenixes.
Now I want to write a fantasy anarchic World-War II phoenix book.
Hey Soman! I found it super interesting and eye opening to read about how you write your books. When I read your books I always wondered what your process was, and while it may not be how most authors write their books, I think that makes it so much more unique and exciting! Like you said, not even you know what's going to happen until it actually happens. I just find that so interesting and love that that's your method. I'm really looking forward to reading each and every single one of these diary entries and yes... it totally sounds like you're writing a sequel or even a prequel to Oppenheimer! 😂
I always think that there needs to be room for maximum discovery, so that there's a space for the magic.
I also love seeing the twists and turns come naturally out of my writing, it is so magical! And I don't really have a system other than...try not to give up haha. Also I can definitely see all the work put into SGE now that I know your process. It is so amazing to learn about the behind-the-scenes!
Thank you for being here!