{"id":1951,"date":"2016-10-17T16:14:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tamaragranthambooks.com\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2016-10-17T16:14:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-17T16:14:21","slug":"secret-revealed-my-writing-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/secret-revealed-my-writing-process\/","title":{"rendered":"SECRET REVEALED: My #Writing Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently received a message from a fan asking about my writing process, so I decided to divulge a closely kept secret and reveal the truth\u00a0behind how I write a book.<\/p>\n

Fine, it’s\u00a0not really a secret, but it sounds cooler that way, right?<\/p>\n

Getting started: When I started writing my first novel six years ago, my only goal was to finish a book. I’d been trying to write a book for years, but always got stuck halfway through and gave up. I knew a detailed outline was important–and probably crucial–if I actually wanted to finish the book. So I sat down and typed an 11 page outline. I knew what was going to happen from beginning to end. And guess what? That was the first book I actually finished.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I \u00a0learned there is way more to writing a book than finishing it, and so began my journey to becoming a better writer. I read tons of books on writing that were tremendously helpful. I’ll talk\u00a0about those in a later post. The best help I received came when I attended a five day seminar taught by author William Bernhardt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The best advice I can give to newbie writers is this:\u00a0A detailed, concise, well-plotted outline is the key to a great\u00a0book. And now, here’s a sneak peek into the process I use to outline a book…<\/p>\n

\"notebook\"<\/a>
I used this notebook at the writing seminars taught by William Bernhardt. I saved ALL my notes and still use them. I pull my notebook out every time I start a new book. It’s got all my cheat sheets. No peeking!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"outline\"<\/a>
Fine, here’s a sneak peek inside my super secret notebook. This is THE outline I use before I even attempt to write another book. Yes, I’ve used it for every one of my Fairy World MD books.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"faythander-outline\"<\/a>
I hand write my outlines and then type them. The story line always changes from one draft to the next, and then changes again in the first draft. As long as I stick to the main plot points, I don’t worry too much about it. I also bounce ideas off my husband at this point. He tells me if my ideas are great or lacking. Usually, he gives me the go-ahead, but every now and then I have to go back and revise. I grumble until I realize he’s actually making my books better. Sigh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"faythander-doodles\"<\/a>
And now I’ll hit you with my impressive art skills. Dude, I should have been an artist, right?! No. I’m kidding here, sarcasm intended. But I do like to draw a little. Plus, it helps me think about where I want the story to go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently received a message from a fan asking about my writing process, so I decided to divulge a closely kept secret and reveal the truth\u00a0behind how I write a book. Fine, it’s\u00a0not really a secret, but it sounds cooler that way, right? Getting started: When I started writing my first novel six years ago, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,110],"tags":[24,49,50,27,104,138,136,139,137,102,13],"class_list":["post-1951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mondayblogs","category-writingtips","tag-amwriting","tag-author","tag-authors","tag-fairyworldmd","tag-monday-blogs","tag-notebook","tag-outline","tag-secrets","tag-wannabe-artist","tag-william-bernhardt","tag-writing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1956,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions\/1956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}