My Writing Process

Since starting this blog, some have asked about my writing process. In all honesty, it varies depending on the medium—scripts, articles, speeches, novels. The format drives some of my process, and yet a few things that remain constant.

My first step is to find the throughline of whatever I am writing. I have to know what is driving the writing.

The medium doesn’t matter because each piece, fiction or nonfiction, needs an idea that moves the information or character toward a resolution.

The throughline is that driving force that propels the reader forward. It is the main idea that drives all other action. Without that, there can be no movement and no words. Without that, there can be no plot or outline.

Throughlines vs. Loglines

The next step is the logline, which is a brief summary of the story. It is said that the movie Lake Placid sold with a seven-word logline: Jaws in a lake with a crocodile.

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to capture the essence of a story. One to two sentences at the most. The general rule of thumb is to keep it under 25 words.

It may sound impossible, but once you know the throughline it becomes easier to summarize the story down to its core idea.

Plot Comes Next

Once I have a summary and my driving force, I outline the basic story structure. Now I don’t go crazy here, but I need to know where I am headed. I also build the story so there is a crescendo at the end (or a crisis and climax, in traditional writing terms). I want my story (script or speech) to build in emotion, tension and energy.

Once I have those in place, I begin to lay in the other details, such as theme, symbolism, character development, and the rest.

What I never do is sit down and write without knowing the three things above. It just doesn’t work for me. I cannot pants it like some do. Nor do I want to outline the death out of the story. I want just enough information to guide me along and that one key idea to keep me on the right path.

This is how I begin. What is your process?