I can picture you, dear reader, right now saying, “Oh no, another rant
about how he writes,” but you can be appeased as I will make this a quick entry
and not one of encyclopedic proportions with every nook and cranny of the
research bit I had to dig.
First off, you must be informed who to blame for this. Who but a dear
friend would have put me up for this, right? Well, right. I’ve known Catherine
Lea for a couple of years now. We met in a virtual gathering, a haven for
beginners and experienced alike, named Backspace. Of course, she living in New
Zealand and I in Honduras had prevented a face-to-face, but I think we know
each other well, and we’re also fan of the other’s book.
My writing process is similar to the one she describes here,
although with some differences:
First I come up with a theme, a title, the seed, whatever you want to
call it. Usually, it begins with a what-if. As I was feeding a bottle to my
then-six-month-old son, he spilled some milk over his lip forming a mustache, a
rather short one that will forever be associated with the antichrist of World
Word 2. So I though, he looks like Hitler, only by this time he should be his
grandson. What would happen if Hitler had had children? Did you hear the click?
I did, and that thought became the basis for a novel I wrote in Spanish titled Heir
of Evil, about a fictional son of Adolf Hitler. The theme for FIREFALL,
was the comeback road for a broken here, my first vision of the story was when
my character loses his wife and son aboard a jetliner.
After I decide on a topic I sit down and write a short bullet list of
the things that will happen, you know, the major shifts in the story. The list
also serves as the basis for my subsequent chapter list that will serve as
basis for the synopsis. That list also serves as a guide to pinpoint issues I
need to research, define the characters—I confess it pretty much feels like
holding a casting session for a Hollywood movie.
Then it is the writing of the first draft. This section of my process
varies, it can be as short as forty days (well, rather nights), or it can
expand over the course of years. It all depends on what other projects I have to
work on. For writing I need a good space, and music. I don’t have a problem
with people talking around me, I can tune them out. The only distraction is
when they actually expect me to response. For instance, I’m writing this blog
while sitting in a crowded restaurant and the TV is playing a football game,
Brazil versus Colombia.
After the first draft is done, I print it, or transfer it to my kindle—the
point is to use a different format, and work on the second draft. That draft is
the one that goes to beta readers, trusted friends with no qualms to tell me
where I’m wrong. Then it is out for final line-editing with another trusted
friend.
At this stage it is when my two previous books started to be sent to
agents and publishers, so there comes a period to follow the instructions on
the back of the bottle of shampoo: rinse, wash, repeat.
For short
stories that I have published directly at Amazon, the previous step is sort
of skip over, but it is replaced for a more thorough set of revisions,
searching for good cover artwork, and planning the promotion tour.
And that is it, in a nutshell.
During the very last Backspace Conference in 2013, author Jonathan
Maberry told the attendance some serious truths, the one that stayed with me
the most is this one: writing is an art, publishing is a business.
Now for the tagging, I’d like to exact my revenge—I mean tagging—on the
following marvelous authors: J.E. Taylor, Ian Barker and Alex Shaw.
Now off to watch the most appropriate movie for today.
