(I believe that to an extent the process of writing comes quite naturally and I’m being modest here! However that doesn’t mean everything I write is good. No, I have to keep on rewriting and editing in order to make my writing good. All in all penning a novel is hard work and it takes a lot of perseverance and dedication. However, despite all the effort I put in, I still love every single minute I spend working on a particular novel. My belief is the more effort you put in, the better the end result will be – and it is this that really keeps me going.
Since I’m still schooling and have to juggle my schoolwork, homework and my books I don’t get nearly as much time as I would like to write during the term time. Most evenings I get to work for about one to one and a half hours maximum. However during the holidays I stick to a strict schedule. I work for two steady hours in the morning and two steady hours in the evening – which makes a total of four hours. If I’m not satisfied with my daily quota for the day or feel my writing isn’t up to scratch, then I work for an extra hour at night. I usually start off with a rough plan of the storyline – so I have a basic idea of how the story is going to start and end. As I go along I fill in the middle. Some authors stick to a very precise chapter-by-chapter outline. It works fine for them, but I believe that working with a rough plan gives you more freedom and adds more joy to your work. At times I let my imagination take over completely and write the novel for me. Sometimes even I’m surprised by the end result!
I’m what we authors call a sprinter. This means I write the first draft extremely quickly – maybe in a month or two – without rewriting and stopping only to correct any punctuation errors. After taking a short break, I then begin the process of rewriting. And rewriting. And rewriting. I normally do about for or five drafts for a particular novel, changing words and phrases, cutting out lines, adding scenes, making the dialogue more interesting – until I am completely satisfied. Only then do I show my work to my publishers and ask them what they think. My parents and grand mother helped me with these drafts, taking the time and trouble to painstakingly read them over and over again, correcting any mistakes and pointing out various inconsistencies. However, I’ve decided that I’m going to hire a professional editor, starting with Body Count: the novel I’m currently working on.
I believe that authors like James Patterson, David Baldaaci, Jeffrey Archer, R.L. Stine, Anthony Horowitz and Sidney Sheldon truly inspire me – because reading their books shows me how much better my writing can become, how much further I can go and how many great things I can achieve.)
