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This weekend, I’ll be involved in a panel discussion at the Rochester Children and Teens Book Festival. We’ll be answering questions about, I gather, how the sausage is made.
I don’t know the extent that they still teach it this way anymore, but there was a time when the “Writing Process” was explained as a five-step linear sequence: 1) Prewriting; 2) Drafting; 3) Revising; 4) Editing; and 5) Publishing.
Surely that’s well-intentioned and generally kind of correct. That is, when you cut up the cadaver. But when you are in it? Actually writing? I find it all a little unrecognizable, like a kid I went to school with but can’t remember his name. Familiar but . . . not.
Over the years, I’ve meant to put together a “real” writing process guide. It would include Dithering and Self-Loathing. And the shape would be circular, not the tidy straight line the school-taught process implies. As writers, we are constantly circling back.
At least, that’s my way. The fact is that we’ve all got to find our own path. There’s no single way. No right and no wrong.
For me, Thinking is the biggest part of it. All that heavy lifting that happens away from the page. Days and weeks and months of thinking, daydreaming. Mental doodles. I’ll have productive weeks where I don’t write a word. It took me a long time to learn that lesson, and it involved beating myself up repeatedly for years. After all, I had nothing to show for it. But I’ve slowly learned that’s my way. That’s how it works . . . for me.
I’m posting today, primarily, to share this 4-page sequence from an upcoming book: Bigfoot and Dodo: Funny Business (Simon & Schuster, May 2027). This is a young graphic novel (112 pages) co-authored with the hilarious Audrey Vernick and illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy. In the story, Bigfoot and Dodo are hired by a famous writer who believes his house is haunted. It is disturbing his ability to write and, ack, he’s got a deadline. Our heroes are on the case! While Bigfoot is up in the attic experiencing adventures of her own, Dodo and the Famous Author, Mr. Peabert, have this discussion about his creative process:
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NOTE: These pages are not final, though the finished book will surely look very much like this (two-color printing).
Audrey and I are very fond of this sequence. To us, it feels spookily, eerily, uncomfortably true.
Good luck, fellow writers. It’s a nutty process and the only way out is through.
In the past, when I’ve taught writing for Gotham Writers, I found myself saying, “The mountain will teach you.”
That is, I compared it to skiing. Yes, you can take lessons with an “expert” on the bunny slope. Learn how to stop. Learn how to slow down. Learn how to get up after you fall. But eventually, you’ve got to get on that ski lift and ride to the top of the mountain. How do you really learn how to ski? The mountain will teach you. No one can do it for you. Whoosh. You are on your own.
Break a leg!
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