As Always

As always in writing, there are times you get sidetracked. I did the mistake of re-reading my SWTOR -KotFE fanfic, and it led to me writing a few pages on that one. But... I'm back now.

Where was I? Oh, yes. The story and my writing process.

Let's have a look at my writing process. Note: This is what works for me, it can be concidered messy and confusing to some. Writing is about finding your way.

Okay. I start by making a quick outline in Word.

In other words: First I write ACT ONE and make that a heading.

Then I make THREE chapters. Name them whatever you like. I usually go for a word that explains the chapters, but to make it easy I'll name them One, Two and Three

I use Heading 2 for those chapters. I repeat the steps for Act Two and Three, but in ACT TWO I add NINE chapters. "Why?" You ask. I'll get to that shortly.

So this is what it looks like when I'm done. Note the red circle. This is where I keep all my "need to know" things. Like Characters, The Summary, The How's and The Why's.
Fair warning. You might be able to read the draft of the first page of the book (if you have good eyes). So SPOILER ALERT, 

Since I already have characters I add them in the right place. 

I've blocked out the backstory bits. But the questions I keep in the document are:

Name:  Age: Height:  Weight:  Role in Story:  Eye color:  Hair color:  Skin tone: Habits: Identifying feature:  Past:  Present:  Future:  Theme Song:

NOTES: 

Writing a Scene:

I always insert pictures to help me with the setting. In the opening scene we're in the woods, it's cold. So I had this picture follow me as I wrote. It's always at the bottom of the scene, just below what I'm writing. If I can find videos on Youtube with sound that match the mood, I keep them playing in the background. 

Now to the thing that changed writing for me. Nothing big, but for me it was earth shattering.

I NEVER ever, write more than a page per chapter in one sitting. 
This means that even if I'm in the middle of a flow, in the zone, I still end a sentence before I hit the next page, and then jump to another chapter. This keeps me interested in my work, it keeps me on my toes. 
Now this can be really confusing for some, but I've noticed that I don't struggle to write as often as I did before. I don't get as distracted (it does happen) by other ideas. 
I'm not saying this works for everyone. I'm just giving you my five cents about this. 

My next post will be about everything I've learned through Books On Writing.