Writing Process of the Wild Jackaloki

For lack of any better ideas for a blog post this week, I thought I might talk about my writing/editing process for once. This blog is called "Writing Habits of the Wild Jackaloki," after all. 

Anyway, I'm not saying it's the "right" way to write a story, but here's how I do it. (I'm not receiving any compensation from the companies that sell the software I mention below, by the way. I just wanted to share a couple of the tools I actually use when I write.)

1. Write

This is the easy part. I just write whatever enters my mind. I don't try to control it. I don't try to write using a formula. I let the story go wherever it wants to go. I try to write as much as I can in a short amount of time, which is usually 1,000 to 3,000 words a day. 

On days it's difficult, I'll write at least five hundred just to keep my momentum going. I don't wait for inspiration to hit, and there is no such thing as "writers block" during this time. 

I use a program called Scriviner to write. It's the best program I’ve found for organizing large writing projects. Scriviner makes it easy to keep track of research materials and reorganize scenes/chapters. Sometimes, that can be helpful, although I've found that it works best for me to write a story from start to finish without too much jumping around. If I jump around too much, I'll have trouble connecting the pieces later.

2. Organization of Chapters

I wrote a large portion of Eat, Pray, Loki in a single document that was sitting in the research folder of another project, which meant that at some point, I had to transfer all that into another project and break it into chapters. When I wrote the rough draft for Four Weddings and an Asgardian Funeral, I made more of an effort to break the story into chapters as I wrote, but it's easier for me to do once I've written most of a story.

3. Rewriting a Chapter

When I'm working on a fanfic, I rewrite chapters on a weekly basis as I post. But this always comes after I've finished writing the entire story, or when I at least know where the story is going and how it's going to end. This is when I add material, delete material, and start trying to make my writing good—it's much easier to do when I don't have a blank page staring at me.

This is also the stage where I add the kaomojis I use as text breaks. Usually, I end up doing that when I need a break from trying to actually fix my writing.

4. Editing/Proof Reading

At first, I was doing more of the kind of "editing" that involved actually removing material, but at a certain point I decided that with fanfiction, there really isn't much point in trying to limit the amount of material you're putting out. No one is going to care if your chapter goes over an arbitrary number of words. Now I only remove material if it really doesn't work. Usually, it ends up dropped in a file titled "Deleted, Chapter x" file in case I change my mind.  Most of the time, I'm doing this during the rewriting process as previously mentioned.

When I actually start the proof-reading process, it looks like this:

1. Read through the chapter, making any obvious changes that need to be made.
2. Search for words that tend to be overused or indicate passive voice. I have a list, which I got out of a certain editing book. I don't try to remove all of them; I just look at them and consider whether I really need them. I'm pretty sure that trying to remove all words ending in "ly" is the road to madness.
3. I use a program called Natural Reader to read my work back to me, which helps me catch a lot of mistakes that I would have otherwise overlooked. I've tried reading it out loud myself, but I prefer not to strain my voice. The free version of the program works for me, even if it mispronounces some words.
4. I run the chapter through Microsoft Word, which has a better spell/grammar checker than Scrivener.

5. Posting a Chapter

This part is both the most straight forward and the most terrifying part of writing. I'll make sure to check the preview for formatting mistakes first. Then I'll hit "Post," hoping that I haven't made any horrific mistakes. Then I'll spend the next few hours thinking, "Well, this is it. This is the week when everyone's going to stop reading this." 

But eventually, someone will leave a comment, and I'll think, "People are still reading this? Really?"  Seriously though, I love comments. Obviously, as a fanfiction writer, I'm not getting paid for my work, but any confirmation that someone is reading and enjoying what I write always makes me feel like the entire process is worth it.