The Purposeful Prose
asked
Dervla McTiernan:
What is your writing process like and how long do you usually take to finish writing a book? Thank you.
Dervla McTiernan
Hello and thanks for your question : )
I usually start thinking about the next book while I'm still editing the previous book. This means I've often been thinking about my new book for at least a few months, on and off, before I put pen to paper. When I'm thinking I'm really looking for a character who inspires very strong feelings in me, positive or negative. That character is the first little seed from which I will grow the book.
I usually have a scene in my mind that gives me an insight into the character. For example, with The Ruin, the scene I had was a scene with Maude and Jack. In the scene they are children, Maude is 15, Jack only 5, and they are sitting on the stairs in that crumbling Georgian house, holding hands. It's getting dark outside, it's freezing in the house, and they are afraid. That's all I had at the start of the book. I had to write the rest to find out how they got to that place, and what happened to them next! But by then I cared desperately about both of them, and I felt I knew them so well, and that gave me what I needed to carry me through the sometimes difficult process of writing the novel.
I could bore you to tears about the detailed process I use to write - the very short version is that once I have the key character around whom I'm going to build the book, I do a long character study for her and at least four or five secondary characters, sometimes more, and then a sketch outline (maybe a paragraph or two ) for eight or nine scenes I think would be fun to write. Then a rough synopsis, then I write twenty thousand words or so. At that stage I usually re-read and reconsider the synopsis, write a more detailed synopsis/outline, and then re-write the first twenty thousand words (by then I know the characters and story a lot better so it's worth going back and fixing it up). Then continue on to finish my first draft. I do work to outlines but I am always willing to bin them if they lose that organic feel.
It takes me about four months to write a rough first draft, and then I will spend another year, off and on, editing the book to get it into shape.
I hope that helps!
I usually start thinking about the next book while I'm still editing the previous book. This means I've often been thinking about my new book for at least a few months, on and off, before I put pen to paper. When I'm thinking I'm really looking for a character who inspires very strong feelings in me, positive or negative. That character is the first little seed from which I will grow the book.
I usually have a scene in my mind that gives me an insight into the character. For example, with The Ruin, the scene I had was a scene with Maude and Jack. In the scene they are children, Maude is 15, Jack only 5, and they are sitting on the stairs in that crumbling Georgian house, holding hands. It's getting dark outside, it's freezing in the house, and they are afraid. That's all I had at the start of the book. I had to write the rest to find out how they got to that place, and what happened to them next! But by then I cared desperately about both of them, and I felt I knew them so well, and that gave me what I needed to carry me through the sometimes difficult process of writing the novel.
I could bore you to tears about the detailed process I use to write - the very short version is that once I have the key character around whom I'm going to build the book, I do a long character study for her and at least four or five secondary characters, sometimes more, and then a sketch outline (maybe a paragraph or two ) for eight or nine scenes I think would be fun to write. Then a rough synopsis, then I write twenty thousand words or so. At that stage I usually re-read and reconsider the synopsis, write a more detailed synopsis/outline, and then re-write the first twenty thousand words (by then I know the characters and story a lot better so it's worth going back and fixing it up). Then continue on to finish my first draft. I do work to outlines but I am always willing to bin them if they lose that organic feel.
It takes me about four months to write a rough first draft, and then I will spend another year, off and on, editing the book to get it into shape.
I hope that helps!
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